Google desktop apps aren’t exactly common; the Google Drive app for Windows is one of the few designed specifically for the system. So today’s announcement of Google Essentials will come as a surprise to many, but it makes perfect sense.
So far, Google has focused primarily on mobile phones and tablets to expand its platform, leaving computers in the background. After all, almost all Google services have a web page, which can be used with Chrome or another web browser; so Google has never felt the need to launch specific applications for computers.
That changes today, with the launch of Google Essentials. As the name suggests, it’s a collection of “essential” Google appsincluding native Windows applications, web applications and simple links to web pages. A mishmash that will allow us to “discover and install” the applications we want to adapt our experience.
Google Essentials includes the aforementioned Google Drive app for Windows, which allows us to sync our files with the cloud and all our devices. It also includes Google Play Games for PC, an application that allows you to install Android games on your computer, as long as they are compatible, and sync your progress with your mobile.
Additionally, web applications are included Google Photos and Google Messages; Both run in a browser window and are essentially just web pages, but in a container that allows them to run as independent applications within Windows.
Finally, Google Essentials also adds shortcuts to Google websites, such as Google Docs, Drive and Calendar. Clicking on these shortcuts will open our web browser and it doesn’t involve anything special, but it can be useful for organizing or easily finding applications. Curiously, Google does not indicate if Chrome is part of Essentials, or if we will have to install it separately.
But perhaps the most curious thing about Google Essentials is how it’s distributed. Google Essentials cannot be downloaded and install it on our computer, but it will be pre-installed on laptops and pre-assembled computers.
To begin with, it will be available first with computers from the manufacturer HPacross all its brands: Spectre, Envy, Pavilion, OMEN, Victus and Omnibook. When you buy one of these computers, Google Essentials will already be installed and we can start it from the Start menu. As part of this promotion, users will also get a two-month free trial of Google One 100GB.
Although Google Essentials seems to be a simple promotion by HP to introduce “bloatware” (unwanted programs), the company assures that in the coming months it will expand to more computers; and if we don’t want any of this, we can uninstall any program or shortcut, or even Google Essentials completely, without any difficulty.
